My Take on Prop 37

And just like that, its Election Day. I hope you all are exercising your right to vote today. For my Cali friends, I wanted to write down my thoughts on Prop 37, which requires genetically modified foods to be labeled.

I'm voting yes.

I hope you look into it, and I hope you consider voting yes too. Here's why:

I believe we have the right to know what is in our food, and the right to choose for ourselves. As of now, GM foods are allowed to be marketed and labeled as all natural. That seems much more confusing to the consumer, and it won't outlaw GMOs, just require them to be labeled.

One of the big arguments on the other side is that it has not been proven that GMOs are bad for you. Personally, I don't buy it. It takes years to do long-term studies on the effect on health, but the US is not requiring that we conduct any, even though numerous studies warn of health effects. 

I've read that this will probably set the standard for the rest of the country, and that is incredibly exciting. Where Monsanto & Big Food have been able to stifle the conversation in DC, we can start redefining the standard now. 60 other countries who label GMOs, including all of Europe, Japan, Australia, India, and China. Let's catch up.

I don't trust Big Food and their big money. No on Prop 37 is being funded by all the Big Food companies. Monstanto and DuPont alone have thrown in over $12 million on marketing. These are the same companies that told us DDT and Agent Orange were safe. 

It shouldn't hike up prices. Because companies don't want to lose your business. It doesn't change the ingredients companies are using, unless we all stop buying those foods, and the labeling cost will is not significant. 

Aside from that, I'd encourage you to read this fascinating article on 37 from purely and economic angle. It argues that if the current information asymmetry continues between producer and consumer, it will drive down the quality of the product in the marketplace overall. 

There you have it. In either case, do your research and happy voting, friends. Let's all proudly wear our "I Voted" stickers today. Because its cool.